Friday, July 15, 2011

Summer Sickness

Amanda has been sick. It seems the worst is over though. 6 days with a high fever is no way to spend your summer vacation.

When your kids are sick, you get to do things you never thought you'd do before having children. For instance ...

Her fever was so high for so long (104.5), that I spent one night with her in her little twin bed for as long as my back would allow, until moving to the floor. I just wanted to make sure she kept breathing, you know?

I woke up early on a Saturday morning (which I despise) just to get a good place in line at Urgent Care (It was worth it this time though. We only had to wait 15 minutes!)

Two days later, when she still wasn't better, I took her to her pediatrician where I got to do some other cool mommy stuff ...

First I got to help her get a urine sample (read = pee on my hand).

Then when I was told that blood work was going to be done (to rule out Mono), Amanda asked me what that meant. So, counting on honesty being the best policy, I told her they would either prick her finger and squeeze some blood out, or they would take it through a needle. Yeah, THAT went over well. So well that she got all worked up and made herself throw-up 3 times. And all 3 times I caught the vomit IN MY BARE HANDS. (Who says motherhood isn't glamorous?) The thing I found interesting, is that she just kept doing it ... in my hands ... as if that were normal. And I just kept catching it ... in my hands ... as if that's what I was created to do.

The Lab Tech came in with the feared needle. No finger prick today, sadly. So I then got to hold Amanda's arm still while it was stuck with the needle and 3 vials of blood were extracted. I would have preferred catching 3 more rounds of vomit than make her go through that, poor baby.

After watching her shiver (from the fever) in that office for 2.75 hours, a nurse finally offered a blanket. So at least she was warm for the last 15 minutes of our visit. She was given a prescription for a liquid antibiotic that made her gag so bad, that she threw up the first 2 doses. NICE. (At least this time she was near a sink!) After the 2nd time I actually told her, "You know, you really have to stop doing that." Surprisingly, that didn't help. She went ahead and threw up the 3rd dose.

After 6 days, that nasty fever finally broke and she was back to fighting with her sister, which was music to my ears ... for like 5 minutes.